Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO Takeshi Numoto Sells 2,500 Shares

Microsoft Co. (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.87, for a total transaction of $1,077,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 53,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,203,211.24. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Takeshi Numoto also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, November 27th, Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.48, for a total transaction of $423,480.00.
• On Friday, November 22nd, Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of Microsoft stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total transaction of $414,720.00.
• On Tuesday, September 10th, Takeshi Numoto sold 2,500 shares of Microsoft stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.04, for a total value of $1,027,600.00.

Microsoft Stock Up 0.1 %

MSFT opened at $431.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Microsoft Co. has a one year low of $362.90 and a one year high of $468.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $420.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $426.70.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Co. will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.39%.

Microsoft declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $60.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the software giant to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSFT. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Microsoft by 1.6% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,975,200 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $882,816,000 after purchasing an additional 31,401 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA increased its position in shares of Microsoft by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs & Co. CA now owns 96,021 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 55.9% during the 2nd quarter. New Harbor Financial Group LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. lifted its position in Microsoft by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. now owns 430,730 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $192,515,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Microsoft by 3.4% in the second quarter. Quest Investment Management LLC now owns 156,258 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $69,840,000 after buying an additional 5,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson cut Microsoft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $475.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $501.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Microsoft in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.03.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.